Chapter 73: Chapter 74 - The Opening Cinema
Because of the full concentration on preparing the new project, Murphy actually forgot that his first film had already been released in the theater, and on the way to the theater by car, he purposely made a phone call to Jones Butler to briefly learn something about the situation.
Miramax had previously done some publicity for Fruity Hard Candy, and in addition to posters and spots in some of the theaters, it had also run TV commercials on two public television stations in the late-night hours.
For the publicity of Fruit Loops, Miramax was very restrained, and the investment can be described as meticulous, after all, the cost of the movie is here, and it is impossible to invest too much in publicity, or else it is bound to lose money.
The car drove to Santa Monica relatively remote near a theater, just into the parking lot, the passenger side of the top of the sound of Kerry Mulligan's complaints, "Are you a director ah? I can't believe you didn't know your movie was released last Friday!"
Looking at Murphy parking the car, her doll face was full of indignation, "I wanted to see it in London, but there was nothing to see there."
"Well, honey." Murphy greeted her as she got out of the car, "I'm not preparing for a new movie."
Carey Mulligan closed the passenger door and turned her head to stare at Murphy, "New movie? What is it?"
"Secrets." Murphy locked the car and led the way to the west side of the theater, waiting for Carey Mulligan to catch up and shake his arm before adding, "Just wait a little longer, you can see it when the script is finished."
Carey Mulligan immediately grinned happily.
The two had just walked into the theater when Carey Mulligan pointed to the poster board in front of them and said, "Look, Murph, our poster."
Directly in front, off in the corner, the poster for Fruity Hard Candy, designed by Miramax, was posted, with the little girl in the red hood standing in front of it, and the photographer in the gray dress behind her leering at her.
"I'll get the tickets."
Murphy went over and bought two tickets, and the two of them entered the screening room, although Fruit Hard Candy was R-rated, but with Murphy there, it wasn't difficult for Carey Mulligan to get in, and it wasn't uncommon for minors in North American theaters to run into R-rated movie theaters to watch movies.
"It's so undercrowded." Carey Mulligan kept looking around, "The seats are empty."
This was a small movie hall that could hold hundreds of people, counting Murphy and Carey Mulligan, there were probably less than fifteen audience members.
"That's normal." Murphy reminded, "Don't forget it's Monday."
How could there be a large audience for such a niche movie.
In fact, when talking on the phone, Jones Butler mentioned some relevant screening data to him, "Fruit Hard Candy" entered the North American theaters from last Friday, Miramax contacted ten theaters for this film on demand, and got $36,538 on the day of Friday, and the situation was a little better on Saturday and Sunday, and the three days of the opening weekend's box office accumulation exceeded the $100,000 mark in one fell swoop.
This put Fruitcake over $10,000 per theater in its first week on demand, and earned it an expanded run as well.
Needless to say, Miramax really has a knack for distributing independent films, and as of this Monday, Fruit Hard Candy's North American theater count has increased to one hundred and sixty.
The movie began to show, Carey Mulligan was completely quiet, her whole body was invested in the movie, when Hayley turned back for her first appearance, Murphy saw her eyes reddened, two lines of tears flowed down, and her whole body seemed to be trembling.
The moment a dream is realized, it will always be so exciting that it is hard to own.
Murphy understands this kind of mood, reached out his hand and gently patted down Carey Mulligan's arm, Carey Mulligan turned her head, wiped away the tears on her face, tried to squeeze out a smile at him, and then lowered her head and pushed hard on the top of his shoulder.
The two smiled at each other and turned back to the top of the movie.
Soon, Carey Mulligan was laughing so hard that her mouth was splitting above her ears.
Because the audience was relatively small, most of them were concentrated in the center rows, and some whispered comments inevitably reached this side of the room.
"This girl is acting really well."
"She's so pretty and cute, so cool!"
"I like this girl and her red dress and canvas shoes."
There were people in the back talking about her performance.
"The little girl's acting was awesome, it was scary to watch."
Listening to this, Carey Mulligan felt ethereal, better than drinking Chivas with Murphy.
Though interspersed with voices that thought the movie was over the top, the voices that rang through the hall every now and then were almost always complimentary about Carey Mulligan's performance.
And Murphy agreed that Carey Mulligan was very good in the role, and her near-vernacular performance did a good job of hiding her own shortcomings, gaining so many bonus points for her appearance compared to the Ellen Page she once was.
Audiences tend to be very in-your-face.
In the end, Little Red Riding Hood kills the Big Bad Wolf and triggers another wave of amazement, women's secret pleasure, men's egg pain ...
The screening ended, a dozen or so audience members walked out of the theater one after another, with Murphy and Carey Mulligan falling to the very back.
"Did I perform well?" Carey Mulligan asked impatiently.
Murphy nodded, "It was great ..."
A hint of disappointment appeared on Carey Mulligan's face as she shifted and grunted, "Just great?"
"Honey, you need to hear me out." Murphy shook his head and continued on his way, Carey Mulligan blearily following as he added, "You're doing better than James Franco."
Carey Mulligan nodded her pointed chin hard, "I'll do better in the future."
She followed Murphy, out of the studio and over towards the front room, turning her head for a moment to look at the poster billboard again as she passed it, the little red hat on it so striking.
The only thing she felt sorry for was that the audience was really kind of small just now.
If the whole room was filled with audience members, and everyone was raving about her performance, what a wonderful feeling it would be.
Thinking about all these have-nots, Carey Mulligan followed Murphy out of the movie hall, looking up at the somewhat blinding sunlight, when a questioning voice with doubt suddenly rang out from her right.
"Excuse me ...," a brunette girl, probably in her mid-twenties, looked at her and asked, "Are you ... you Haley. "
"Hayley?" Carey Mulligan froze.
Murphy also heard the question and turned his head, reminding, "Hayley from the movie."
Carey Mulligan's eyes curved with a smile as she realized, politely extending a small hand, "Hello, I'm Carey Mulligan."
Once the brunette had shaken her hand, Carey Mulligan added, "I starred as Hayley in Fruity Hard Candy."
The brunette girl looked surprised, "It was really you? You were fantastic in the role!"
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